U.S. Pat. No. 4,290,154 issued in 1981 to W. H. Benjamin shows at FIG. 6 of this patent, a bracket used to fixedly attach the bathtub to a fixed structure, e.g. a wall. The bracket comprises two distinct parts, an apron retaining member and a holding strip. The apron retaining member is fixedly attached to the inner face of the bathtub skirt, and is elbowed so as to be spaced therefrom. The holding strip is nailed to the wall, and comprises an upper rib and a lower upwardly extending finger which forms a channel. The bathtub skirt is to be downwardly inserted inside the channel formed by the holding strip finger, while this same finger is to upwardly engage the space located between the apron retaining member and the bathtub skirt inner face. Thus, the bathtub is fixedly attached to the wall.
The disadvantage of the Benjamin attachment method is that it is complex in that the relationship between the different parts of the bracket are cumbersome to assemble.